Spring product and method of forming same



`lune 14, 1949, H. c. KEYsoR SPRING` PRODUCT AND METHOD OF FORMING SAME Filed May 4, 1945 Patented June 14, 1949 SPRING PRODUCT AND METHOD OF FORMING SAME Harold C. Keysor, Chicago, Ill., assignor to American Steel Foundries, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of New Jersey Application May 4, 1945, Serial No. 591,977

9 Claims. (Cl. 267-61) My invention relates to a spring product and the method of forming the same.

In the manufacture of helical springs coiled from spring bars of round stock having relatively large diameters, the spring bars are usually formed at each end with plane surfaces converging toward the extremity and a haphazard attempt has heretofore been made by the spring manufacturer to dispose the surfaces at each end of the bar in such angular relationship that when the bars are coiled into helical springs, each coiled spring will have one of the surfaces at each end of the bar forming a bearing surface for the end of the spring and disposed in a plane perpendicular to the helix axis. In the formation of a spring bar of substantial diameter into a helical spring, a process of hot coiling the helical spring on a mandrel is usually employed wherein the rst or dog end of the bar is clamped to the mandrel with one of the surfaces thereof in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the mandrel to provide a bearing surface for one end of the spring. Inasmuch as the correct angular relationship between the planes of taper of the surfaces at each end of the bar is seldom attained by the bar manufacturer, it is customary practice that the second or tail end of the bar is held with a gripping tool by the workman during the coiling operation and the workman twists this end of the bar to bring one of the surfaces thereof into parallel relationship with the bearing surface at the dog end of the bar. Considerable difculty has been experienced in forming a spring in this manner for the tail end of the bar continually rotates about the bar` axis, necessitating manipulation of the gripping tool by the workman to insure that one of the sur,- faces of the tail end is positioned perpendicular to the helix axis. This is a tedious operation which requires continual manipulation of the gripping tool by the workman and diiiiculty in twisting the tail end of the bar for the purpose described. Also, considerable skill of the workman is required to approximate parallelism 4of the bearing surfaces, which are thereafter usually accurately ground to secure parallelism.

It is the principal object of my invention to provide a novel method for making a spring bar of the type described by forming the converging plane surfaces at opposite ends thereof in such an angular relationship that coiling of the bar will produce a helical spring with a bearing surface at each end thereof perpendicular to the helix axis of the spring without manual or other Operations.

Another object of my invention is to provide a method for forming a spring bar of the type described for coiling into a helical spring having a plane bearing surface at each end perpendicular to the helix axis without the necessity for accurately grinding the ends and which may be carried out conveniently and quickly and at low eX- pense in manufacturing springs of this type.

Another object of my invention is to provide a method of forming a spring bar to be coiled into a helical spring wherein the angle between the planes of taper of the surfaces at oppostie ends of the bar are properly related to the amount of rotation of the free or tail end of the bar about the bar axis so that upon completion of coiling the bar in helical form, one of the tapered surfaces at the tail end of the bar will be in a plane parallel to one of the surfaces at the opposite end of the bar and both surfaces will be in planes perpendicular to the helix axis.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the end portions of a spring bar, the intermediate portions being removed to illustrate the relationship of the tapered surface of the respective end portions;

Figure 2 is an end View of the bar shown in Figure 1 looking up from the bottom;

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic view of a spring bar being coiled about a mandrel and Figure 4 is an end View taken from the right as seen in Figure 3 Figures 5 and Gare diagrammatic end views respectively of a spring bar coiled in helical form, and the spring bar prior to coiling with the planes of taper of the surfaces in alignment; and

Figures 7 and 8 are diagrammatic end Views, respectively, of another spring bar coiled in helical form and the spring bar prior to coiling and formed in accordance with my invention.

In Figures 1 and 2 there is shown a spring bar 2 employed in the manufacture of a helical spring having plane parallel bearing surfaces at opposite ends thereof perpendicular to the helix axis of the spring and, for this purpose, the bar 2 is formed at each end with plane surfaces l and 6 at opposite sides thereof, the surfaces at each end of the bar converging toward the extremity of the bar and being angularly positioned with respect to the surfaces at the other end of the bar by an angle A as indicated in Figure 2 which shows an end View of the bar looking up from the bottom of the bar.

Referring now to Figure 3 illustrating diagrammatically a spring bar 2 being coiled into a helical spring on a mandrel 8, during the process of hot coiling the spring bar 2 to form a helical spring Hl on the mandrel 8, the first end l2 (called the clog end) is clamped to the mandrel in a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the mandrel and, upon rotation of the mandrel, the second or tail" endx` I4 (jigqgure 1)I ofthe bar rotates Labout tlejbarfa'xis. If the angle' tween the planes of taper of thetwo' ends-isprop'l erly related to the amount of this rotation, one.. of the tapered surfaces of the tail end will b," upon completion of ceiling, in the reguiredgplane perpendicular to the axis of rotation of theijnlanf drei and the helix axis of the spring.' For this purpose, the relation betweentleitaers" ft'hejtwgr ends may be determined to siit this*desired"con`l dition.

Referring to Figures 3 and 4` todetermlrreth1$l relationship, rotation can be represented hiyal Vector, and it is customary to take th'e` "ile'ctoi"x perpendicular tothe plane of rotation. Thus the' manerrrotanca-isi represented 'byj'vpctgr a insignias. If n is broken upf inta" two' asm;

pne'nts respectvely'parall'el 'and' perpendicular to me' par axis, wnerefftneftari'startsto aantast the mandrelfthese components, T andi B," represent tlie'relatiye-arnount of ytti/ isting' 'and' bend'- ing of the has: Usingen@notations L.=len gth of bar between heel points;

Df='mean coil diameter;

N,=number offturns in hejixbetween heel points;

Since the Vector' triangle. is. similar to triangle afc, it follows from'similar triangles:v

T ab

B bc

andi since licaef'cos d then all'V bac, .Cosa If triangle abc is enlarged to form .a similar triangle Whereiathe'sid@ ,Similar- ,Q-,-ae=.Lfar1dthe Sidesimilar G ab=ff them which may be; .expressedz' 'ab g Hfdaccos a ?:Lcos- By definition:`

and since LrserDLllf, DN-L .i acosaand ` upon 'itsellfthe'twst is zero, and if a=90 pure twisting is had with no bending.

Todispose one, of, the surfaces of the tail end in afplanegperpendicular to the helix axis, the

rtaltioiy 1t Illustlie properly related to the offset anglepr. Elxpressing the twist in half turns:

t 2 (H -d) liet the fractionalgpart'oin2n berepresenteddby areaal; iiD. 1%.

It; mayI loel notedLthatthe, expression-, or; function h asbeen arbitrarily chosen to represent the. ra tional part ofsthe quantity derived, by substitutf ing numericaluvalues in thevfunction,

z2 (H vd)\ aswherein itermoreiullyexplained. This fraction. of .a half turing, thereforefis :the amountly which thetaii ,twists'past tnexciesired position, consequently tailing .in",wil1` be achieved [if tail lags byI this isaine? amount. That lis,l the required offset o end-tapers`isegual to;

24H-di van" a inl amount and ,I opposite in direction (lagging) The same result secured m1-,ne odset {lea/dsuy [zuiger Qlviously,^` the simplest .pian iste use whichever gis/@sine minimumnormen "T nej, term 'offset' is illustrated inilEigure 2 Where it i`s sljiown' a'si 'the angie )A bett/ een the p1-aries;@oftaper; and' it' will bs considered' ast rigntjhandr, in, fthe 'direction wisselen fla-milf in' *he 01.5119- The` relation betweerrtail twist and Voiset ls and 6 itt which' f a bar is viewedfrcmiithj .endl thptaberjplaneloi `thjffir eng' jbeing, shown 'dotted' "au and til-ei near end solitlicd.' 'Reierringnw toFigurese inclusive, suppose "a bar' is formed with the two end-tapers (showndottect'inf Figu'rs' ,and 6l be heldV fast, an@ the nears tai1"'-ne r4 (shpwrr by the soils diametral lirie jbe twisted throughgn; half' turns. tneffrationai part fA za'tsing greater than mie h'alf i for this particular: purpose. lViewed' from thejiieaif end'fl'll fit would' appear-fas infFi'gure 5, and trieangleYwouidhavtheinagitude siiov'vn ni Eq. 2; In otnerfwcrds, tirejrtiif" ndju the' properl positioii-"by Yana therefore, jif it'mrev made 'withfan initial' odsqtlri'giit nandlof 'angie Aria'ssnown tins'iii: viiafnisiifwiur ends managment. i. e., with one of the surfaces at each'edfthe `ciled bar perpendicular to the helix axis as shown in Figure 7. It may be noted that Fig- `ure illustrates a case where 2n is composed of an odd integral number plus a fraction. If 2n is an even integral number plus a fraction, the only difference will be to interchange points C and D and the formula previously given will still apply.

lThe following rul-e can thus be formulated determining the offset angle A:

Right hand coiling:

and A is right hand (as in Figure 2). Note that the offset A is in the same direction as the bar twist. If the fractional part of 2n is less than 1/2:

' and A is left hand (opposite to Figure 2). Note that A is in the opposite direction to the bar twist. For left hand coiling the same rule is followed as above but the nal A is reversed. Since A is in 'half turns, multiply by 180 to convert to degrees.

From the foregoing disclosure, it will be apparent that by the use of my novel method,

spring bars may be formed with the desired an- Agularity between the plane surfaces at opposite ends thereof so that coiling of the bars will invariably result in a helical spring having plane parallel bearing surfaces perpendicular to the helix axis by a relatively simple mechanical coiling operation without the necessity of employing a skilled workman to assist in coiling the springs and, thereafter, to accurately grind the ends of the spring bar to secure the aforementioned desirable result.

A few numerical examples are hereafter given f to illustrate the computation of the angle A in left and right hand wound helical spring.

Left hand coiling:

H (coiling or free height) :81%1" d (bar diameter) :1l/3a" D (mean coil diameter) =4/32" Then:

[egim :0.120

t right hand (because spring is coiled left hand).

Right hand coiling:

A=0.281 half turn=50.58 or approximately 51 left hand.

.a6 Left hand coiling: H=8%n 1:11361 D=411" A=o.133 left tum=2aa4l or approximately 24 right hand.

Right hand coiling:

A=0.299 half turn=53.82 or approximately 54' left hand.

I claim:

1. The method of forming a spring bar of round stock adapted 'to be coiled right hand into a helical spring comprising the following steps, cutting to length a bar of spring stock, forming two converging tapering planes at one end thereof and forming two planes of taper at the other end thereof disposed at an angle in degrees with respect to the first-mentioned planes in accordance with the following equation:

wherein [haar represents the fractional part of the quantity obtained by substituting numerical values for H, d, 1r, and D in the function [Lisi which the bar is to be coiled, d the bar diameter,

. and D the mean coil diameter of said spring,

whereby said bar upon coiling into a helical spring will have one of the surfaces at each end thereof substantially perpendicular to the helix axis of said spring.

2. The method of forming a spring bar of round stock adapted to be coiled left hand into a helical spring comprising the following steps, cutting to length a bar of spring stock, forming two converging tapering planes at one end thereof and forming two planes of taper at the other end thereof disposed at an angle in degrees with respect to the first-mentioned planes in accordance with the following equation:

wherein 1rD p represents the fractional part of the quantity obtained by substituting numerical values for H, d, 1r, and D in the function Mix-Sbel?? whereby said bar upon coili-ng into .a hel-ical spring will have one of the surfaces at each end thereof substantially perpendicular to theh'elix axis of said spring.

3. The herein described process of manufaof' wherein 2 (fre-ii) D r represents the fractional part of the quantityobftaini vby Asubstituting numerical values for WH-arid DIin the function 2fH'e'dl.

'1rD H'being the `free #height o f the-helical spring Vinto -``whichthe lbar is'-to be coiled, d the bar diameter and-D the mean-coibdiameter -of said spring.

4. The method -of 4forming -a lhelical spring coiled right hand and having a substantially plane bearing atea'ch 'end'sthereof perpendicular to the helix axis comprising the steps of providing a spring bar of round stock having each end formed with substantially plane surfaces Vtapering toward the extremity 'Swith an angle in degrees between theplane'sof taper of the surfaces "at opposite' ends ethereof satisfying 'theequationz represents "the frjaen'sni "pan 1ef 'fine v'quantity prisme-d by "substituting numerical values 'for "nu, einen intne function wherein 5. The method 'for forfning :fa rencia] spring coiled left hand and having a substantially plane bearing at each ndthere'of perpendicular to the helix axis comprising tle steps of providing a spring bar of round stock having each end-formed with substantially plan'ie :surfaces tapering toward the extremity with-the angle in degrees be- -tween theplanes of taper of the surfaces at op- 'fsiferends'tnrefsansfyingthereeuann:

le f; f2 ('Hid) 180 X [-V F wherein Weer-esente use fractionalpartofineiqanuty ob- 'seach -end -of the @bar converging tained by :substituting numeri-cal values :for fir fand-D, being the `free height-fof thefhe'li foal spring finto which 'the .bar :is to :be v"coiled, d the lbar'fdiameter, and D the mean "coil diameter fof said :spring 6. The method fof .forming .fa vhelical 'spring Lcoiled and-'having :a substantially :planerbearing :at each end thereof perpendicular to the helix fax-is mziniprrsing `the :steps "of 4providing -a spring rbar of round stock having eachend'formed*withfsubstantially plane surfaces tapering toward Ithe iextremity with the angle in degrees between the planes lof taper :of ithe surfaces "at 'opposite ends thereof satisfying the equation:

as Leggi,

wherein {WHY-d2] vrD H being the free height ofthe helical spring invto v`which the Ibar V.is .to be coiled, .d .-lthe bar diameter `and D -the .mean `coil .diameter o`f 4'saii .spring.

A spring bar of -round stock for cdiling into a helical :spring -having Va ,plane 4surface Aat each end -sthereof comprising substantially iplane lsur- Aifaees at each-endiofsaid bartapering `towardthe extremity withvlthe planes oftaperlf the sm*- facesat yone lend thereofdisposed ,withfrespect to the iplanes 4.of -taper `of the surfaces at .the other endthereof at-anvanglelin accordance with 'the following 'equation "o L. .iso -1r D wherein l ts "the fractional "pai'tfofth'e-tluantityobtainei by `substitui-,ing `numerical values for H, d, 1r and@ inithe' function H being the freesheightfdfthehlical spring into which the bar is to be coiled, d 'the bar diameter and D the mean coil diameter of-said spring, whereby said bar upon coiling into a' helical spring'will..have -onelf thesurfaces at each end thereof substantially perpendicular to the helix axis of said spring.

8. A rounds`ection springbarmf substantially uniform cross sectonfthroughout its length and adaptedto be coiled leftfhandinto a\coil.spring, -com-prising agpair .ofsubstantiallylat:sufacesat toward Althe exltremity withthe .planes if .taper 4of the surfaces at one end of the bar disposed wthre'spect`to the planes of taper of the s'uface at'the ther'end of the bar at an angle in accordance with-thevfol lowing equation:

o 180 XI--FD F wherein Qld) 'rrD F represents the fractional part of the quantity obtained by substituting numerical values for H, d, 1r and D in the function H being the free height of the helical spring into which the bar is to be coiled, d the bar diameter and D the mean coil diameter of said spring, whereby said bar upon coiling into a helical spring will have one of the surfaces at each end thereof substantially perpendicular to the helix axis of said spring.

9. A round-section spring bar of substantially uniform cross section throughout its length and adapted to be coiled right-hand into a helical spring, comprising a pair of substantially flat surfaces at each end of the bar converging toward the extremity with the planes of taper of the surfaces at one end of the bar disposed with respect to the planes of taper of the surfaces at the other end of the bar at an angle in accordance with the following equation:

10 represents the fractional part of the quantity ob,- tained by substituting numerical values for H, d, 1r and D in the function REFERENCES CITED The following referenlces are of record in the file; of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 809,664 Bergmann Jan. 9, 1906 1,429,690 OConnor Sept. 19, 1922 1,523,225 Lukens Jan. 13, 1925 1,760,169 Phelps May 27, 1930 1,827,056 Williams Oct. 13, 1931 l 1,956,336 Wine Apr. 24, 1934 

